Marks of You
by Monroe-Militia
Summary: Charlie wakes up one morning with Connor's name on her wrist... She's heard the stories, she knows that when someone's name appears on your wrist that it means that they're your soulmate. She just doesn't like it.
1. Chapter 1

Charlie had heard about this happening, but she had always thought that it was a myth. She didn't think that it ever really happened to anyone, she just thought that it was some cheesy fairy tale. This sort of thing definitely was not supposed to happen in real life.

She scrubbed and scrubbed at her wrist, desperately willing the ink to go away even though she knew that it was hopeless.

At first it had just been a faint pattern, so light that she couldn't even tell for sure that it had been writing. Like it hadn't been definitive, as if it had been written in pencil and able to change. But now, now it was written very clearly in thick, dark letters that covered her wrist.

Charlie could feel tears forming in her eyes and forced herself to push them back as she finally gave up and stopped scrubbing at her raw, red skin.

"Charlie, are you alright in there?" Miles' voice came through the doorway.

She took a deep breath before turning and opening the door.

"What happened?" He asked as soon as he saw the look on her face.

Charlie wordlessly held up her wrist in response.

Miles stared at the red flesh that was only accented by the name inked upon it. **CONNOR BENNETT**.

"What, you got drunk and got Mini-Monroe's name tattooed on your wrist to match the real-Monroe branding on the other one?" Miles questioned with an amused smirk, which quickly fell when Charlie didn't smile in response.

"I didn't get a tattoo," Charlie responded. "It started showing up over a week ago, but you could barely see it. You couldn't tell what was written. But now... You've heard the stories, Miles. I don't want my fate to be Mini-Monroe."

That wasn't exactly true. That was what really scared Charlie, the fact that she had already been struggling to push away her feelings that had been developing for Connor. What if she really was destined to be with Connor? What if he turned into what his father had used to be?

"Well you said that this thing faded in, maybe it'll fade back out eventually," Miles suggested.

"We both know that's not how it works, Miles," she responded with a tear still shimmering in her eye.

"I know, I just thought that the appropriate thing to do in this situation was to lie to you," Miles told her with a faint smile. "Here, take my jacket so that you can cover it up."

"Thanks," Charlie said with a weak smile as she pulled her uncle's too big leather jacket on.

She looked in the mirror and was relieved to see that, although it clearly did not fit right, it did hang low enough to cover the mark on her wrist. In fact, the sleeves went all the way down to her knuckles.

"Looking good, kid," Miles commented, causing Charlie to laugh a little. "Come on, we've got to head out."

* * *

By noon, the Mathesons and the two Monroes had already been walking for hours with the sun beating down on them. It was an especially hot day and the midday sun was up in full effect.

"I don't know how you're wearing Miles' jacket right now, Charlie," Bass commented. "I can barely keep my shirt on."

Miles shot Bass a glare. Bass didn't understand why he was being glared at and shot his friend back a confused look that only caused Miles to roll his eyes and look away.

"He's right, it is pretty hot out," Connor agreed with a grin. "Maybe _you_ should take _your_ shirt off, Charlie."

" Shut. Up." Charlie responded through gritted teeth without even turning to look back at him.

Bass was right; it was way too hot for this jacket. She was practically passing out from heat stroke, but there was absolutely no way that she was taking it off and showing off her new marking.

"Ooh, someone's more short-tempered than usual," Connor commented as he picked up his pace to walk next to her. "That's okay, I like my women hot."

Rachel and Bass simultaneously turned to shoot Connor 'Are you kidding me?' looks, while Miles shot Charlie a look that was a cross between sympathetic and amused.

"Fine. If you're not going to take your shirt off, then I'll just have to take off mine," Connor continued. "Just try not to drool too much, you're probably already dehydrated."

Charlie tried to keep ignoring him as she continued to look straight ahead instead of turning to see if he had really taken his shirt off or not. That didn't last very long though, since less than thirty seconds passed before she heard Bass's angry voice coming from behind them.

"What the hell is that?"

Charlie quickly looked down to make sure that her mark was still covered up before she heard Monroe speaking again.

"Connor, what the hell is that on your wrist?" He insisted.

Charlie stopped walking and turned in horror.

"What, this?" Connor asked his father innocently as he held up his wrist and smirked over at Charlie. "That would be Charlie Matheson's name. Charlotte Matheson, to be exact... Funny, isn't there a story about what it means when someone's name appears on your wrist? ...What does that mean again, Charlie?"

Charlie quickly turned away from him and started walking again, this time at a faster pace. Connor quickly moved to catch up to her, causing the rest of the group to follow suit.

"Oh please tell me that she isn't wearing that jacket to cover up the fact that his name is on her wrist," Bass begged to no one in particular. "Connor, _please_ tell me that you got drunk and stupid and tattooed her name on your wrist out of moronic desperation."

For once Connor was silent.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Bass complained. "You two aren't seriously soulmates."

"Shut up, Bass!" Miles said, this time out loud. "For once in your life can you realize that this isn't about you?"

Charlie was beyond sweating and it had become abundantly clear that there was no point in even trying to hide her mark. The only way that she would convince them that she didn't have one would be if she could show them that her wrists were unmarked and there was no way that could happen, at least not anymore. There was no point in making herself sweat until she passed out if they were going to find out either way.

She braced herself before she slowly removed Miles' jacket and tossed it back over to him. As she moved to put her arm back down, Connor reached out and lightly grabbed it to stop her.

A tilted smirk formed on his lips as he commented, "So you do have one too."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Charlie questioned, ripping her arm out of his grasp, not that it took very much effort when he wasn't resisting her action.

"Because I've had mine since the day I met you. And while I've been trying to cover mine up, you've been walking around in a belly-shirt perfectly mark-free," he told her.

There had been a few times where he had thought that he'd seen something during the last week, but when it had been too light and hadn't looked like letters he had just assumed that it was dirt.

"You've had yours since the first day?" Charlie asked, studying his face in confusion. "Then why did mine just show up now?"

"I don't know, maybe it only shows up when you subconsciously realize who it is," Connor replied. "I'm going to kiss you now. So if you're planning on stopping me, I'd prefer if you told me now instead of hitting me and messing up my face afterwards."

As Charlie's thoughts struggled to catch up to his words, he leaned forward and brought his lips to hers. All of her thoughts came to a screeching halt as their lips met.

The kiss didn't last long. Connor wasn't trying to prove anything with that kiss, he didn't need to. The marks on their wrists were proof enough and he didn't need a big make-out scene now. He just wanted to give her the gentle nudge that she needed to admit to herself that their markings were right. That there was something real there.

Charlie's mind didn't start functioning again until Connor had already started walking again as if nothing had happened. Or at least that's how it appeared to Charlie who couldn't see the giant grin set on his lips.

"You coming, Charlie?"

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! This story is dedicated to connormonroeismyking (Steph-Schell on here) who requested the ficlet that became this first chapter. :)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie seemed to come back to her senses as she wiped a hand across her mouth to try and wipe away the touch of Connor's lips before she loudly declared, "Eww."

Everyone but Connor seemed amused.

"What do you mean eww?" Connor questioned as he turned and began to walk backwards so that he could face her as he spoke. "You kissed me back. Plus I warned you that I was going to kiss you. I gave you the chance to stop me. You didn't take it."

An arrogant smirk adorned his lips as he stared at her, challenging her to try and disagree with him.

"I did not kiss you back," Charlie insisted. She wasn't lying. Her brain hadn't even caught on to what was happening until after he had pulled away. "And maybe if you'd given me time to react before kissing me, then I would have stopped you."

"Maybe," he agreed with his smirk still firmly in place. "But I don't think so."

Charlie rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You are so full of yourself."

"It's not the end of the world to admit that you liked it, being kissed by me, you know," he pointed out. "The wrists don't lie."

With that he held his arm up to once again show off his marking.

Charlie knew that he was right, at least about the wrists not lying. She also knew that she'd been developing feelings for Connor even before her marking had shown up. She even knew that she had enjoyed the kiss. But that didn't mean that she had to admit those things to Connor… That didn't mean that she was just going to give up and accept her fate as the girlfriend of some power-hungry wannabe dictator.

"Maybe not," she told him, causing him to quirk an eyebrow at her in surprise. "Which is why I'd do anything to get your name off of my body."

Charlie was strangely quiet on the rest of the way back to Willoughby as she remained absorbed in her own thoughts.

What felt like decades ago, but really had been just over a year ago, there had been a woman in the village where Charlie had spent most of her life that had used to tell all of the kids a bunch of legends about markings. She seemed to know what she was talking about and Charlie now regretted how she had used to roll her eyes and whisper with Danny instead of listening.

When she was young, Charlie had been more excited in learning to hunt and exploring the woods than she was in what she had assumed were just fairy tales. That had really backfired now, but she wondered if Lucille was still there... If Lucille was still alive.

Charlie hadn't been back to the village since her dad's death and she knew that it would only be even more difficult going back without Danny and Maggie, but at the same time she needed to know if there was some way to get rid of the marks. She knew that it was unlikely that she'd be able to find a solution, but there was still a small chance and that glimmer of hope was exactly what she really needed right now. She needed hope and a mission to keep her distracted… To keep her from giving up and just accepting her fate or overthinking things.

It wasn't that Connor was terrible, but she didn't want to get involved with somebody whose main goal in life was to have everyone bowing down to him. Besides, she liked having a choice in her life. She didn't like being told who she would spend the rest of her life with, even if it was by her own wrist.

Plus, as much as she really hated to admit this to anyone including herself, there was a part of her that was still scared to let anybody else in. She'd lost too many people in the last year and a half for her to feel comfortable getting close to anyone else. It was one thing to have Connor around for banter and, okay, maybe the occasional flirting. It was another thing for her to let herself dive in head first and get attached.

When she'd first found Miles in Chicago, Charlie had wondered how he could be so hesitant to let somebody new in. She had been so innocent and naïve that she had thought that he must be insane to want to live a lonely life and push everyone away, but now she got it. If you live alone you may hurt a little, but at least you aren't adding layers of grief on until you reach your breaking point. That was part of the reason that she wasn't ready to have anyone's name show up on her wrist.

* * *

When they did make it back to Willoughby it was already pretty late, but Charlie needed to talk to Connor alone. So when she noticed him sitting by himself outside, she decided it was the perfect opportunity… Too bad she had no idea how to really ask what she wanted to… Was there really any good way to try and ask your apparent soulmate to come with you on a long journey to try and get rid of your soulmate status?

She stood in the doorway, staring at his back, as she tried to figure out how to begin.

"You going to sit down Charlie?" He asked in a slightly amused tone as he turned his head to face her. "Or are you just planning on standing there all night with something you're clearly waiting to say?"

Charlie offered him the slightest of smiles in response before moving to sit down beside him.

They sat in silence for what felt like a long time before she finally looked back up at him and told him, "Look, I get that you're good with this whole marking thing. But I'm not… And I don't know if it's possible to get rid of them. But I do know somebody who I think would know… Or at least I used to…"

"And you want us to go find them," Connor told him. It wasn't a question. "You want us to go try and find a way to get rid of the markings… Okay."

Charlie's mouth had already been open, geared up for an argument, when she realized what he had said and shot him a look of confusion. "What, what?"

"You heard me. I said okay."

"Just like that?" She questioned. "No argument?"

"Just like that," he agreed with a slight smile.

It wasn't like arguing was going to make her change her mind and he wanted Charlie to want to be with him, not for her to give up and be with him just because his name was written on her wrist. Besides… Who knew how long it would take them to find whoever Charlie was talking about?

Connor certainly didn't, but what he did know was that he'd rather spend that time with Charlie than without her. He was sure that she would go without him if he didn't go and he wanted to spend that time with her. And maybe, just maybe, he'd get to spend enough time with her along the way that she would start to reconsider her decision.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! Thanks for reading and an extra thanks to Sexy Meat Pies, CharlieMatheson, Bellabear9898, and Laura for the lovely reviews on the first chapter :)  
**


	3. Chapter 3

"Let me make sure that I've got this right. In order to try and get rid of Connor you're going to go on a long trip, just the two of you?" Miles questioned in a critical tone.

"To get rid of the markings," Charlie corrected. "But yes."

"I've got to say, that's one of the dumbest ideas that I've ever heard," Miles told her. "Including all of your other dumb ideas… And that's saying something."

"Thanks," Charlie replied sarcastically. "Look, it's not like I can just stroll on into Sylvania Estates with Monroe… Me and Connor both have to go. And there's no way that I'm bringing Mom, that'd be a disaster, so you two have to stay here to babysit Monroe and wait for Aaron to come back while me and Connor go."

"You're still the same dumb kid who found me in Chicago, you know that?" He questioned. "You're beyond naive if you think that this is going to turn out well for you."

"Yeah, and you're the same self-centred alcoholic that I found in Chicago too," she accused back with a grin.

The truth was that Miles wished that she really was the same innocent and naive girl that she had been back in Chicago. She worried him now, although he would never admit that to her face.

The world had changed Charlie. She had always been tough, but now she was more hardened... She had used to hand out second chances and used violence as a last resort. Now she killed without flinching and put up walls to shut people out.

She was starting to turn into him and that terrified him.

He knew that she had recurring nightmares. He'd seen the way that she'd tremble in her sleep or wake up breathing heavily with her hand searching for her weapon.

He'd mentioned it to her once, but she'd just brushed the conversation off and told him that she was fine. Miles has known that she was lying, but had decided not to push it.

Still, it worried him. He was all too familiar with the nightmares and he knew that what had come next for him was constant drinking to try and wash away the pain and he didn't want that for his niece.

That's why it was so nice to at least see a glimpse of the naive girl he had used to know. It let him think that maybe she wasn't too far-gone... That maybe she hadn't endured too much hurt to ever recover from...

"You're an idiot, Charlie," he told her with a fond smile.

"Maybe, but you're the moron that's going to miss me," she retorted as she pulled her uncle into a big hug.

Miles laughed as he hugged her tightly.

"I'll miss you too," she told him as she pulled away from him.

"Come on, you'd better get going," Miles told her. "Your soulmate's waiting for you."

She responded by hitting him in the chest, a little too roughly to be considered playfully, before heading out the door to where everyone else was waiting.

Rachel got the next opportunity to say goodbye to Charlie as she pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Look after yourself," Rachel told her.

"I will," Charlie promised. "But you and Grandpa had better look after those two morons and make sure they don't get into too much trouble."

Rachel had to grin a little at that as she released her hold on her daughter.

Next Charlie enthusiastically pulled Gene in for a hug.

"Try to keep Mom from killing them," she told him quietly.

"I can try…" Gene offered, knowing that there was no guarantee that he would be able to stop his daughter if she was in one of her stubborn moods.

Bass was the last in the line and Charlie hesitated in front of him for a second before she shot him a grin and told him, "Try not to go on any murderous rampages while we're gone."

"No guarantees," he responded with a smile.

After Charlie finished up her goodbyes there was a lengthy pause before Connor finally took a step closer to his father and said, "Look, I don't do the whole mushy goodbye thing. In my experience, that pretty much just guarantees that you won't see someone again. So… See you around, I guess."

With that Connor took a couple of steps backward, making it clear that he was not looking for a hug.

When Connor had last seen his mom, she'd given him a big heart-felt goodbye that had made it seem like she didn't think that she was ever going to see him again. And even though she hadn't, he thought that he still would have preferred a goodbye that would have left more hope of seeing her again.

Bass smiled at his son. Maybe he wasn't getting the hug-filled goodbye that Charlie was giving her family, but this was still a lot better than he might have expected. After all, Connor had basically just admitted that he didn't want to lose him and that was more than something.

"Yeah… See you later, kid."

Connor nodded at his father and then turned his attention to Charlie, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," she told him before turning to walk with him.

They were making their journey on foot and leaving the wagon behind with the other four in case they needed it. That suited Charlie just fine. She liked the idea of returning on foot, the same way that she had left… She'd left to try and get something back and now she was returning to try and get rid of something. It all seemed to fit nicely.

Besides, travelling on foot would mean more distractions and less chances of driving herself insane from overthinking things that she wanted to block out.

"So, do I get to know where we're going?" Connor questioned as they began to walk away from their family members.

"Why? Are you afraid that I'm going to take you somewhere scary?" She asked with a grin.

"Not exactly," he responded. "But I figured that if I'm going with you, then you could at least tell me where we're going."

"I doubt you've heard of it," she told him. "Sylvania Estates… It's a village in Wisconsin that I grew up in."

"I see," Connor said with a suggestive grin. "So this is all just an elaborate plan to try and take me home with you?"

Charlie rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up."

"This trip is going to be awfully dragged out if I'm not even allowed to talk during it," he pointed out.

"And it's going to drag out even more if you _are_ allowed to talk," she retorted with a teasing smirk.

* * *

Bass turned away from where he had been watching the pair walk away to look over at Miles.

"They're going to come back as a couple, aren't they?" He asked unhappily.

"Maybe," Miles agreed. "But Charlie can be pretty damn stubborn when she wants to."

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! And a giant thanks goes out to Sexy Meat Pies, CharlieMatheson, decadenceofmysoul, Laura, and AngelsFallen for reviewing the last chapter :)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

"Why are you walking back there?" Charlie questioned as she turned to look back at Connor over her shoulder, only to catch him staring at her ass.

"Just enjoying the view," he responded with a smirk. "I mean there aren't many other forms of entertainment around, especially considering I'm not allowed to talk."

Charlie shook her head in annoyance before picking up her pace.

Connor just grinned to himself as he continued to watch the view.

* * *

Charlie woke up in the morning and shot straight up, gasping for air. It took a few seconds before she realized where she was and fell back onto the ground, relaxing a little.

"Are you alright?"

She turned her head to see Connor sitting a few feet away with a look of concern on his face.

"I'm fine," she mumbled as she sat back up.

"Really? Because that didn't seem like you were fine to me," he commented.

"Why did you ask if you weren't going to listen to my answer anyways?" Charlie questioned as she ran a hand through her hair. "I said I'm fine."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but she quickly cut him off.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine. We won't."

* * *

They'd been walking for a while when Connor decided to try and ease the tension a little.

"Somehow I didn't peg you as the growing up in a village kind of girl," he commented. "Seems like a village is too small to hold Charlie Matheson."

"I hated being stuck there," Charlie admitted. "It was supposed to be safe, but really it was just boring. I spent every day waiting to get out of there."

And now she almost wished that she hadn't. Things had been so much easier back in Sylvania Estates.

"Mexico wasn't that great either," Connor told her. "It wasn't exactly boring, but I still would have rather stayed in Indiana. I didn't exactly get a say in that though."

"I didn't really get a say in staying either," she responded. "I thought that I wanted out, but now I'm not so sure… But it doesn't really matter anyways. I can't go back to the way things were before. Not anymore."

"Seems like there's a lot of that going around these days," he replied.

Charlie wasn't sure exactly how she had ended up opening up to Connor, but she did know that she wasn't planning on telling him anything else about her life before leaving Sylvania Estates. She knew that she would probably have to eventually, since she was taking him back with her, but she wasn't ready to have to talk about the people that she had lost to Connor.

* * *

When they stopped for the night, Charlie immediately sat down and pulled her boots off of her feet and threw them a few feet away as she leaned back on her elbows.

She knew that it probably wasn't the best idea since they could end up getting attacked at any moment, but her feet were swollen from all of the walking and they were driving her insane. If she had to, she would fight bare-foot because she was exhausted and really couldn't stand to wear her shoes for a second longer.

Connor sat down at her legs and pulled her feet into his lap.

She lifted her head up and was about to ask what he was doing when he began to rub her feet and she cut her question short.

He shot her a flirty smile and she knew that she should probably stop him, but she couldn't quite make herself. Her feet were sore and she was not about to refuse a free foot massage.

Charlie really did not want to fall for Connor. She didn't want to fall for anyone, but she had already been developing feelings for Connor before his name had even appeared on her wrist. And even though he had agreed without a hint of a fight to come on this trip with her to get rid of the marks, it was clear that he was not going to make pushing away any feelings for him easy on her.

"Did you agree to come on this trip just so that you could flirt with me the whole time?" She asked him.

"Not just to flirt with you," he told her. "That's a part of it, but not all of it."

"Really?" Charlie asked in an amused tone.

"If you want to get rid of the marks, then fine," he told her. "I'm going with you, but that doesn't mean that I can't try and change your mind on the way."

"This is going to be a long trip, isn't it?" She asked him.

"That's what I'm hoping for," he responded with a grin.

She rolled her eyes at that.

"Look, I'm glad that you agreed to come with me, but I can guarantee you that I'm not going to change my mind on the way," Charlie assured him with a small smile.

"Well then I guess that means that you've got nothing to worry about," he replied.

"I guess so."

Charlie knew that she had plenty to worry about though. Miles has been right. She was in over her head on this trip and it was going to take a lot to try and fight her feelings for him. Her only hope was if they could get to Sylvania Estates soon, but it was quite the long walk and they weren't even halfway there.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to Sexy Meat Pies, ambrown1022, and decadenceofmysoul for reviewing the third chapter. :)  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Charlie rolled her eyes and turned her gaze away as she toyed with the sleeve of her jacket where it covered her wrist. She could still hear the sound of the fake laughter that was making her want to reach for her knife.

Instead she just took another swig of her drink as she waited.

"I found us a place to stay," Connor told her as he walked up beside her.

She plastered on a fake smile as she turned to find him leaning against the bar-top with a look of self-satisfaction spread across his features.

"Is it that girl's bed?" Charlie challenged with an arched eyebrow.

"That offer might have come up," he admitted with a shrug before a teasing smirk began to play at his lips. "Why? Are you jealous?"

"In your dreams," she retorted. "…Go ahead."

Connor's gaze stayed locked with hers while his expression remained perfectly blank. Finally he realized that she wasn't going to take her words back, so he just shrugged the offer off.

"Nah," he told her. "I already found us a room we can rent for cheap."

Charlie didn't let her relief show. Instead she made herself appear perfectly indifferent as she asked, "You sure?"

Connor glanced back over at the girl that he'd been flirting with in order to gather information, only to find that she had already picked a new target to go after. She was leaning close to another guy with a hand placed on his chest.

"She's not worth the fight... Let's get out of here."

A small smirk formed on Charlie's lips at that, but by the time that Connor had turned his attention back towards her, her expression had already reverted back to its usual state.

* * *

Charlie and Connor stepped into what would be their room for the night. They weren't exactly overwhelmed by it.

It was a small, dank room decorated with a bunch of knick-knacks that would have been considered out of date even before the blackout. The paint on the walls was peeling, it was cramped and over-decorated, there were mysterious stains that they didn't even want to think about the sources of, and the one bed taking up most of the room was covered in lumpy pillows and a torn blanket.

It was pretty apparent why the room had been so cheap, but it was still better than sleeping on the hard ground. The last few nights had already been getting cold, so the rented room was unfortunately still the better option.

"Cozy," Connor commented sarcastically.

He'd slept in places like this back when he had been homeless and starving in Mexico, but he had certainly gotten used to a certain standard of comfort since then. Travelling with the Mathesons and his dad had been enough of a downgrade. He definitely did not plan on getting used to places like this again.

No, he was going to get the republic back with his father. And once he did, they were going to accept nothing less than the best.

Charlie got into the bed, choosing not to look at it too carefully before crawling in.

She had been expecting Connor to get into bed too, but instead she looked back to find him lying down on the floor.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"Being irresistibly charming by sleeping on the floor and letting you take the bed," he insisted as he turned to look over at her with a mischievous smile.

Charlie rolled her eyes at him. "Cute… But there's room in the bed."

* * *

"Why are you drinking this time?" Bass questioned as he stretched an arm out towards the bottle.

Miles looked between the bottle and Bass hesitantly, then took another swig before handing it over to the other man.

"I'm always drinking," Miles pointed out. "Who says there has to be a reason?"

Bass took a chug out of the bottle and handed it back over before pointing out, "You're always drinking, but there's always a reason for it. So what is it this time?"

Miles took another swig in order to stall from answering for a few moments longer before he finally admitted, "...Charlie?"

"Charlie?" Bass asked in surprise. "What about her? She isn't even here to be a pain in your ass."

"No, but she's turning into me," Miles pointed out. "Nightmares... Assuming the worst... Always angry. Killing without thinking twice..."

"_Charlie's _like _you_?" Bass challenged. "Connor's practically a mini-me. Only when I was his age, I had no motivation." He paused for several dragged out seconds before reaching to grab the bottle out of Miles' hands as he muttered, "He's going to turn into a worse version of me and I don't know how to stop it."

Miles let out a snort at that. "Like you aren't the one trying to get the republic back for him."

"I _was_ trying, now I don't know," Bass admitted. "I thought it was going to be better- I _wanted_ it to be better -but I'm not so sure that's a possibility anymore. He's too much like me... Too stubborn. And if I don't give him the republic, I'm going to lose him... But if I do- If Charlie's really turning into you and he's already like me... Miles, she's going to try to stop him. She's going to be able to do what you couldn't; she's going to pull the trigger... And he's going to let her."

Miles grabbed the bottle back and took another long chug.

* * *

Charlie woke up with a start, only to find herself lying in bed next to Connor, who was still fast asleep on his own side.

She tried to calm herself down as she breathed heavily, but she couldn't exactly tell herself that it hadn't been real.

The nightmares had gotten worse, a lot worse, since they had started their trip back to Sylvania Estates. This one had been about Danny. She could still see the look of confusion on his face as he had looked down at the bullet wounds in his chest.

How were you supposed to deal with nightmares when they were really just memories of the horrible things that you had witnessed?

Charlie felt her heart rate steady a bit, but she definitely was not ready to try to go back to sleep. Instead, she carefully got out of the bed without waking Connor.

The bar that they had been at earlier in the night wasn't too far of a walk and she could definitely use a drink to calm her nerves.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to decadenceofmysoul, ambrown1022, Sexy Meat Pies, and CharlieMatheson for being amazing and reviewing last chapter! :)  
**


	6. Chapter 6

A few more nights passed and the nightmares had only gotten worse. Connor never said a word about them after how mad she had gotten last time, but Charlie could see plain and clear that he could tell. Connor knowing about that was one of the least of her problems though.

It had been getting colder and colder the last few nights, but it had still been manageable when they had been able to build a fire. On a particularly chilly and windy night though, it became almost impossible to keep a fire going and so eventually they had given up and just decided to try to sleep. It was enough to make Charlie wish they had a shabby rented room to go back to.

Charlie could feel goosebumps standing out on her flesh, even below the thin blanket and her jacket. She was lying with her back to Connor, who was lying a few feet away. The last thing Charlie wanted to do was sleep because she knew that, if she did, she'd have to relive watching somebody she loved die all over again. She wanted to stay awake, but she knew that it wasn't practical. She needed her energy to keep going on this trip and so she clenched her eyes shut, trying to force sleep to come.

"Charlie, come here."

She ignored Connor's words. The last thing that she wanted was to try to deal with his flirting or questions right then.

"Don't be stupid. I can see you shaking from the cold from over here," Connor commented.

Charlie wasn't so certain that it was the cold was what was making her shake. She was cold, sure, but she didn't think it was that severe. She thought it was more likely that she was shaking from fear and that was something that she was not about to admit to him.

"I'm not even hitting on you, I'm just trying to keep you from freezing to death," he told her. "It's self-preservation. If I let you freeze to death, then your family will kill me."

Charlie felt the urge to shoot him back a sarcastic comment about how over-dramatic he was being, but something stopped her before she could.

She thought it over for a moment before standing up and picking up her blanket in the process.

Connor was a little surprised when Charlie actually gave in, but he said nothing.

She threw her blanket over top of his and he shifted to make room for her. He lifted the blankets up with one arm, holding them so that she could get under them.

Once she was under the blankets, lying with her head resting close to his chest, he set his arm back down. He ended up letting his one arm rest on her over her waist, wrapping it loosely around her. Charlie might have complained if she weren't already so much warmer.

"You were hitting on me a little," she pointed out without looking up at him.

"I'm always hitting on you a little, Charlie" he murmured back.

* * *

If Charlie'd had nightmares the night before, then she didn't remember them. It was a relief when she woke up with no recollection of the night before, if anything still feeling a little exhausted.

It was surprisingly cozy, waking up wrapped in Connor's arms. She felt warm and safe, whether that made sense or not, and she didn't want to move.

She kept still and left her eyes shut so that, if Connor was awake, he wouldn't be able to tell that she was too. She wasn't going to stay lying like that when he knew that she was awake. That wouldn't just be sleeping huddled for warmth. That would be something else and she didn't need Connor getting any more ideas that something was going on.

She wondered if this was a part of the soulmate thing and a reason why they'd been marked. She figured that the safety she felt there and the way that she fit perfectly, nuzzled between his chest and his arms, must be a part of that.

That thought was enough to make her come back to her senses as she shifted a tiny bit further from his chest and looked up at him. As she moved, he stirred from his sleep.

"Buenos días, hermosa," he murmured sleepily.

"What did you just say?" She questioned in a confused tone.

"Buenos días, hermosa," he repeated before a smug little smile formed in his lips. "It's Spanish for 'good morning, beautiful'."

She offered him a small smile in response before moving to sit up. As she did so, he unwrapped his arms from around her. Instead, he leaned his weight back into his elbows, not moving any further away though.

"We should probably get moving soon," she commented.

"Right," he agreed. "We wouldn't want to keep these markings any longer than we have to, would we?"

Charlie glanced over at him, "What? Are you going to go all self-pitying on me already?"

"Not yet," he responded in an amused tone.

Connor may not have been thrilled with the purpose of their trip, but he couldn't deny that he'd been enjoying the trip itself so far.

It was nice, getting some time away from the others, especially Miles. He liked getting to be alone with Charlie. Besides, she was warming up to him and he knew it. Even if she still wanted to get the marks off, he knew that there was something there. He was pretty sure that she must too, even if she wasn't ready to admit that quite yet.

* * *

They walked all day and, when night came around, it was a bit warmer than the night before, since the wind had died down to barely a breeze. Still, Charlie decided to opt for the option of lying closer to Connor for warmth. Or at least that was the excuse she would use if he asked, but really she was just hoping to get herself another dreamless night.

She was glad that for once he seemed to know when not to say something as he kept his mouth shut and didn't make any of the comments that she had been afraid he might. She'd been convinced that at the very least she would have gotten some remark about her not being able to stay away from him.

Those comments had of course crossed Connor's mind, but he had chosen to keep them to himself. He'd rather have Charlie sleeping snuggled up against him than make a joke that would amuse himself for three seconds, only to have her move to sleep further away immediately afterwards.

Charlie didn't have a dreamless night. Instead she had nightmares once again, this time of watching the life leaving her father's eyes after he'd fought so hard to get out the words to try to help her get Danny back.

She woke up and felt a sharp pain in her gut, not only from reliving her father's death, but also from knowing that she had failed at getting Danny home safely the way that her dad had wanted her to.

She felt awful as she woke up and even worse when she saw Connor's questioning eyes staring curiously down at her.

"Are you still going to keep trying to pretend that it's nothing?" He asked.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to RevolutionReader, Sexy Meat Pies, decadenceofmysoul, and Swcky for reviewing last chapter! :)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

_"Are you still going to keep trying to pretend that it's nothing?" He asked._

Charlie rolled onto her back, a little further away from Connor, as she let out a sigh.

"I'll take that as a no," Connor commented as he looked over at her.

There was a long silence before she turned to look over at him. She knew that she was going to have to tell him something before they'd get to Sylvania Estates.

Finally she settled on simply telling him, "You want to know? Fine. I'm having nightmares because going back is making me think too much about things that I don't want to think about. And now I'm stuck with nightmares about all of the people I'm going back without."

She immediately regretted her decision of telling him as soon as she had done so, just by the look on his face. He clearly didn't know how to react and Charlie hated making herself look weak and she couldn't stand the idea of having him pity her.

She let her head fall back against the ground in defeat, just as he finally responded with, "Oh."

"Yeah, oh," she repeated unhappily.

"And yet you're still going back," he commented.

"The nightmare's already started before," she told him. "Going back is making it worse, but it's not like they're going to go away if we don't go. Besides, I can't avoid going back forever."

"Actually, you probably could," Connor pointed out.

"I don't _want_ to avoid going back forever," Charlie admitted.

While it was true that she was afraid of going back and she didn't ever see herself living there again, she wanted to at least see it again. It was where she'd lived the longest and she still felt a pull towards it, whether none of the people she cared most about from her time there would be there with her or not.

"I'd go back to Mexico if I could," Connor admitted. "But I don't think I'd go back to Indiana."

There was nothing and no one left for him in Indiana with his mother dead, so it surprised him that she wanted to go back to her village. He wondered if she would feel that way if there wasn't a potential cure waiting there for her.

"You only want to go back to Mexico because you had power there," Charlie pointed out. "Why? It still was no republic. So why settle?"

The conversation had gone from her finally opening up a little to him, straight to her being annoyed. He wanted to argue with her, but it wasn't like what she was saying wasn't true.

He missed being in Mexico because he missed being important. He missed the position that Nunez had put him in, but now he couldn't go back to that. So instead, he was left waiting for his dad to help him get a republic. Monroe had promised him better and Charlie seemed to hate that he planned on holding his father to that.

"I've been risking my life fighting the damn Patriots just so that my dad will finally focus on giving me what he promised me," he told her in an annoyed tone. "I threw away everything to join a suicide mission. I think I deserve to get what was promised to me."

The moment was completely ruined then as Charlie repeated, in sheer disbelief, "You think you _deserve_ to have a republic just handed to you? Why? Because you joined the fight last minute and have been complaining about it the whole time?"

Connor chose to ignore that as he moved to get up and gather their stuff so that they could take off.

"Get up. Let's go," he told her when she still didn't move. "I thought you wanted to get back there as soon as you can. That way you're not stuck with me or your nightmares for as long and I can go back to the life that you find such a joke."

She was reminded all too much of why she had started the journey to try to get rid of the markings in the first place.

"You're right, let's go."

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! The next chapter is longer and should be up tomorrow. Also, a giant thanks goes out to RevolutionReader, and Sexy Meat Pies for reviewing last chapter. :)  
**


	8. Chapter 8

Charlie had thought that she was prepared to go back to Sylvania Estates. She had known that it was going to be weird, but she wasn't expecting how hard it hit her when they walked through the gates and she found herself staring down the patch of dirt where her father had taken his last breath.

As Charlie stopped walking, Connor turned to her with the intent of making a sarcastic comment about the area. He changed his mind as soon as he saw the way that she was staring. He wasn't sure what exactly she was staring at, or even if it was something specific or just from being in the area, but it was clear that she was already overwhelmed by being back.

He moved to grab her hand. He wasn't sure how she'd react to that, but he figured at the very least that she would be able to take her mind off of things a little by snapping at him if she chose to pull her arm away.

She didn't pull away, but he didn't find himself feeling the usual level of satisfaction that he would get when she gave in on things like that. Instead, he found himself more concerned as she left her hand in his with virtually no reaction.

"Charlie." He tried.

She forced her eyes away from the ground before turning to look over at him. She felt like there were tears forming in her eyes, but she struggled to force them back.

He tightened his grip on her hand a little as she turned back to look around the cul-de-sac, taking in the appearance of the buildings until her eyes reached her old home and settled there.

She felt a strange pull to go inside. She wanted to check and see if there was anything there that she'd left behind, while she'd been expecting that she would be coming back with Danny, that she wanted now.

She began to walk forward without a word and Connor followed close beside her.

* * *

Her old home was very similar to how she remembered it being. There were a few things that had been moved around or changed, but for the most part it looked just how she had left it. It felt smaller to her than it had before. It was all that was really left of her old life.

She took her hand away from Connor's as she moved through the rooms to look around. He followed a few feet behind her, giving her some room.

"Who the hell are you?"

Charlie's hand moved away from the small cuts in the wood of the table that had come from her first knife and whipped her head around to see who had spoken.

A woman was standing in the doorway of the room, shotgun in hand, glaring over at the pair of them.

"What are you doing in my house?" The woman demanded as she waved the barrel of her gun at them.

Charlie moved to put her hands up in a sign of innocence and Connor, who had been debating going for his own weapon, decided to follow suit.

The sleeves of Charlie's jacket slid down and the woman's attention focused onto the mark on her wrist, but not the one that said Connor's name.

"You were militia?" The woman asked angrily as her finger moved to rest right over the trigger. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now."

Connor turned to look at Charlie in confusion as she just remained frozen. It scared him that she didn't seem to be trying to do anything to stop the woman.

Before he had the chance to try to speak for her, someone else appeared in the doorway on the side of the room.

The second woman looked between where Charlie and Connor were standing and the woman in the doorway before insisting, "Put the gun down, Hazel. This was her house long before you lived here... And trust me. Charlie Matheson has plenty of reasons to hate Monroe and his militia more than most around here. If she has a branding, then I'm sure there's a good explanation for it."

The first woman, Hazel, hesitantly lowered her weapon.

As the pair lowered their arms back down, Connor shot Charlie a confused look. More questions than he could count had popped into his head in the last couple of minutes and he thought that Charlie definitely had not given him enough information before bringing him there.

Charlie didn't notice though, since she was too busy looking over at the second woman.

"I thought I saw you come in here," the woman commented. "But I was sure I must have imagined it. Did it take having a boy's name appear on your wrist to finally come back and show that you're still alive?"

Charlie looked down at her arm, but her wrist was covered once again by her jacket. Lucille must have seen it when she'd had her arms up.

"I guess that makes you Connor," Lucille said with a smile as she looked over at him.

Charlie was suddenly very relieved that Connor had his mother's last name instead of Monroe's.

She knew that she was probably going to have a lot of explaining to do to him, but she didn't see why she had to be the one to tell him about everything. Shouldn't Monroe be responsible for catching his own son up?

She guessed that Monroe didn't want Connor knowing just how bad he had been and now Charlie was left there with him having no clue what was going on and she was responsible for having to figure out how to explain everything to him.

* * *

They had made it to Lucille's place a few minutes later when Charlie admitted, "I need your help. With the markings."

"Uh-uh," Lucille said with a shake of her head. "Not yet. First we have a lot of catching up to do. Did you find that uncle of yours?"

The last thing Charlie wanted to do was recap everything that had happened and waste time catching up. She just wanted answers and to leave, but she knew from experience how stubborn Lucille could be and she figured that if the roles were reversed she would want information too.

Connor leaned back in his chair as he decided that this was his best shot, at least at the moment, of actually finding out some of what was going on.

"Yeah, we found Miles," Charlie responded. "It took a little work, but we managed to convince him to help."

"What about your brother? Did you get him back from Monroe?"

That was the first Connor had heard of a brother and his interested only peaked further when he found out that his father had apparently taken him. He shot Charlie a desperate look, hoping to get some kind of answers out of her, but she just kept staring straight at Lucille. It was clear she was making a conscious effort not to look at him and it was making him more than a little annoyed.

"We got Danny back," she answered. "But it didn't matter anyways. We barely got him back before he got shot."

"What about your uncle and the other two?" Lucille asked. "Where are they?"

"Maggie didn't make it to Danny," Charlie told her. "But Miles is fine. Aaron too, last I saw him... Did he ever tell you about his wife before the blackout?"

"Priscilla?"

"Yeah. He found her," she responded as she forced a small smile onto her lips. "And we found my mom. It turns out she wasn't dead."

"Tell me you at least kicked Monroe's ass when you got Danny back," Lucille insisted. "He deserves it after everything he did to your family."

Charlie let out a small laugh at that. She was still being careful not to mention anything about working with Monroe now or Connor being his son. She knew that it would not bode well there.

"Something like that," she responded.

She might not have kicked his ass then, but Miles had. And Monroe had already gotten what was coming to him several times. She'd even kicked his ass a little after he'd escaped from Adam, the bounty hunter, but she decided not to bring any of that up there. She was just hoping to get the conversation done with as soon as possible. She didn't want to have to stay there for any longer than was absolutely necessary.

"What about that branding on your wrist?" Lucille questioned. "There's got to be a good story behind that one."

It was a story that Charlie didn't want to tell, especially when she could feel Connor's eyes burning holes into the side of her head.

She tried to keep it as vague as she could as she answered, "We ran into some kids on our way. One of theirs had gotten taken to a militia training camp. So I went in to get him out."

She shrugged as if it hadn't been a big deal, choosing to voluntarily sign up to become a member of the militia just in the hopes of saving one boy she didn't even know.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! Another giant thanks goes out to Bubbly Girl13 for reviewing last chapter! :)  
**


	9. Chapter 9

Charlie was less than thrilled when Lucille insisted that, if they wanted her help, they had to stay overnight. Charlie would have ditched out when night came around, if it weren't for the fact that Lucille refused to even talk about the markings until morning.

Once again they were stuck with one bed for the both of them, but it was in much better condition than the bed they'd rented had been and by that point they weren't exactly opposed to sleeping in the same space.

Connor still had questions, but he bit his tongue and decided to hold out a little. He figured that Charlie was already in a bad enough mood just from being there that he didn't need to make things worse. Besides, he didn't expect her to give him answers there anyways and he just wanted to get some sleep.

Charlie was more afraid of what her nightmares would bring there, sleeping back in her old village, than she had been for the whole trip back. She knew that it was illogical, since it wasn't like the nightmares could do anything worse just because she was there, but she still found herself snuggling up closer to Connor as she hoped that he'd be able to keep the nightmares away, or at least make them ease up a little on her.

She didn't get much sleep that night, since it took her so long to fall asleep, but when she did sleep the nightmares came right on schedule.

She woke up and felt a little better to find herself curled up against Connor instead of back in the same situation over again, but it still did nothing to change the pain of reliving what had happened. He was still asleep and she decided not to wake him, instead she moved to carefully get out of the bed as quietly as she could.

Judging by the amount of light coming in through the window, the day had probably already started for most of the people in the cul-de-sac. She hoped the same went for Lucille, since she really needed to talk to her.

* * *

"Good morning Charlotte," Lucille told her with a smile when Charlie came down the stairs. It was clear by the look on the younger woman's face that she was not looking for any more small talk, so Lucille added, "You want to talk about the markings now."

"Is there a way to get rid of them?" Charlie asked, getting straight to the point.

"Why do you want to?" Lucille questioned. "What's wrong with the boy you brought back with you?"

Charlie was not in the mood for playing twenty questions and she couldn't explain the problem without at the very least hinting that he was like Monroe.

"I don't want to be marked," she insisted stubbornly as she dodged the older woman's question. "Is there a way to get rid of it or not?"

Lucille sat silent for several long seconds before a knowing smile formed on her lips. "There might be one way."

"What do you mean _might_?" Charlie asked her. "Do you know what we can do or not?"

"I've heard stories of what could be done, but I've never had a reason to see it tried out," she responded with a shrug. "It's simple enough though. And from what I've heard it should work."

"So then what is it?"

Charlie had to remind herself to at least be a little patient, since Lucille was the one helping her. Still, she felt like she had been waiting more than long enough already.

"Wait here."

Charlie did as she was told and waited several minutes before Lucille re-entered the room carrying a canteen in her hand. She screwed the lid back on, but kept it in her hands as she looked pointedly at Charlie.

"Before you use this, I want you to be sure," she insisted. "Once it's done, it can't be undone. So before I give you this, I need you to promise me that you won't use it right away. Don't tell him about it either. Just keep it with you and wait until you're a hundred percent sure that this is what you want to do."

"Fine, I promise," Charlie agreed.

Lucille handed her the canister and told her, "If you want to use it, then just drink it."

Charlie opened the canteen and peered inside, swishing the contents around a little. At the bottom there was a couple inches of what looked like water. She brought it closer to her face and a strong herb smell came from the canister.

She closed it back up and looked up at Lucille as she asked, "How do I know if it works?"

"If it works, then the markings should be gone within twenty-four hours," she responded.

* * *

Charlie had just finished sticking the canteen into her backpack when Connor woke up and looked over at her.

"Are we going now?" He asked when he saw that she was holding her bag.

"As soon as you're ready," she responded.

"What about these?" Connor asked, holding up his wrist with her name written across it.

"I asked. She said she doesn't know of a way to get rid of them," Charlie responded. "It was a long shot anyways, right?"

She still wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do. She was definitely going to be keeping the canteen close to her, but she'd also made a promise. That was why she wasn't telling Connor about it. That and the fact that, if he knew, he would drive her insane with little comments about how she hadn't used the cure yet.

"Right," he responded. "Still, sorry."

"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" Charlie pointed out.

"Not exactly," he told her. "I was hoping you'd change your mind. Not to be the consolation prize you don't want."

* * *

Miles started to become concerned when Charlie and Connor had been gone for almost two weeks. He didn't like not knowing what was going on and sharing his worries with Bass had turned out only to lead to more things to worry about.

He knew how naive Charlie could be and he wasn't entirely sure he could trust her to keep her stupid in check. He knew that Bass was worried about Connor as well, so it became easy to get him to come up with the idea that Miles was hoping for.

Miles wanted to go after them and find them to make sure that they hadn't killed each other yet or gotten themselves killed by anyone else, but he didn't want to be the one to pitch the idea. He didn't want to be the paranoid one. He needed his ideas justified to him and for someone else to pitch the idea for him so that he could throw the blame somewhere else, or at the very least share it.

Bass had always been the perfect option for that, so it was a simple choice to go talk to him and bring up the subject of Charlie and Connor's trip.

He asked Bass where he thought they were and why it was taking so long and then threw in a question about whether Bass still thought that Charlie was going to end up killing Connor some day and Bass grabbed onto the bait right away. All that was left was convincing Rachel to go along with the plan, but he was sure that wouldn't be too difficult. After all, Rachel hadn't seen her daughter in two weeks and he was sure that she'd easily agree with the idea of taking the wagon to go make sure that they were alright and bring them back early.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to decadenceofmysoul and Sexy Meat Pies for reviewing last chapter! :)  
**


	10. Chapter 10

They'd been walking, mostly in silence, up until Connor couldn't stand it anymore.

"Why didn't you tell me about any of that stuff that happened with my dad?" He finally asked.

"I don't like talking about the people I lost," Charlie responded.

"You still should have told me about all those things before you took me there," Connor argued. "Why are you even working with him? And why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't _he_ tell you?" She countered. "Why do I have to? And what does it matter whether you know what kind of person he used to be? You're still going to want to be _just_ like he was."

"Why do you just assume that I'd be a terrible leader?" Connor demanded angrily. "I'm not going to be like him."

"You want to get the republic back _with_ him. How are things going to be any different?" She asked. "What's with your obsession over having power anyways?"

"Maybe I just want to be able to have control over my own life for once," he insisted.

"Right. Because you couldn't have control over your own life without having control over everyone else's," Charlie retorted. "You want power so badly, but look around. Everyone who gets even a little bit of power lets it go to their heads. It changes them."

"What do you care if I change?" He asked her. "You want to get rid of me anyways."

"Maybe I don't want you to change because I actually like you when you aren't busy acting like a power-hungry mini Monroe!" She shouted at him.

Being called a mini Monroe was worse coming from Charlie, especially after everything that he'd found out in Sylvania Estates.

"I came on this damn trip because it's what you wanted," he argued. "And yet, any time I mention anything _I_ want, you act like you're so much better than me."

"Like you haven't been doing whatever you can to get what you want this whole time," Charlie retorted. "You only care about what _you_ want. The whole reason you came on this trip was to try to talk me out of my decision so that _you_ could get what _you_ want."

* * *

Miles brought the wagon to a stop when he heard voices close by.

He waited a few seconds, straining his ears to listen, before he heard a familiar voice loudly shouting, "Remember when you weren't allowed to talk? I miss that rule. From now on, just don't talk to me!"

"Fine. It's not like you can hold a conversation without turning everything against me anyways!"

A few seconds passed before Charlie became visible in the trees. Even when she saw the wagon and who was on it, her expression didn't change. She still was fuming as she stomped over to them.

"Well, I guess they aren't a couple," Miles commented as he looked back over at Bass.

Connor emerged from the trees a few seconds after Charlie with his jaw firmly clenched. He looked just as angry as she was.

Charlie got on the wagon and, as she passed Monroe, she told him in an annoyed tone, "Congratulations. Your son turned out _just_ like you."

She threw her bag down and sat down as Connor got on the wagon after her and glared accusingly over at his father from where he sat down across from him.

Neither of them asked what the other three were doing there, nor why they had come after them. They were too angry to care.

Miles exchanged a look with Bass then. It was clear that they weren't a couple, but both of the men found that they might have preferred for them to be. From what they could tell, their prediction was just becoming more likely to come true. Charlie and Connor were already fighting and they were just becoming more and more like Miles and Bass.

* * *

The rest of the day passed and neither Connor nor Charlie said a word to each other. Occasionally, they'd look in the other's direction, usually with a pointed glare, but neither said a word.

When night came, they set themselves up on exact opposite sides of the area that they had stopped in.

* * *

Charlie woke up, with a start, from another nightmare.

As she lay there, wishing that she could fall back asleep, she found herself thinking of Maggie and the nightmare she'd just starred in. Charlie has waited until the very end before she'd realized how important Maggie was to her. She'd spent so long arguing with Maggie and trying to push her away and ended up regretting it afterwards.

As she thought about it, most of her anger dissipated. She still didn't know what she was going to do about Connor and she didn't want him turning into what Monroe had been, but she cared about him. That much she knew. They lived dangerous lives and she knew that she would never be able to stand it if she lost him while they were arguing over something stupid or pretending not to be able to bear each other.

She didn't know much about what she was going to do, but she still found herself getting up and leaving her blanket behind.

She walked around the bodies of her mother, uncle, and Bass, who had all been asleep for hours, on her way over to Connor.

Charlie wasn't sure whether he was awake or not as she laid down next to him and pulled the edge of his blanket over her. As she snuggled up to him, not knowing whether he'd hear her or not, or whether she even wanted him to, she closed her eyes and whispered, "I'm sorry."

A smile that she couldn't see formed on Connor's lips before he wrapped an arm around her without opening his eyes. "So am I."

* * *

"Weren't they pissed at each other all day yesterday?" Bass questioned the next morning as he looked over at where Charlie and Connor were still cuddled up asleep together.

"I guess they're not anymore," Miles responded with a shrug.

Rachel was the next to wake up. She said nothing about the pair that was still sleeping, but she did look over at them. She too seemed a little surprised by their sleeping arrangement.

* * *

Connor woke up before Charlie did and figured that she could use the sleep, considering the lack of it she'd been getting lately. He carefully moved his arm off of her and shifted a little ways away before turning to find all three of the others staring over at him.

"What?" He asked with a glare as he rose to his feet.

* * *

It wasn't long before Charlie woke up. Connor was gone from under the blanket, so she figured it must be time that she should get up. She sat up and froze when she saw Connor drinking from a canteen that she was almost certain was the same one that Lucille had given to her.

"Connor!" She snapped, maybe a little too urgently, as she stared over at him in horror.

He practically choked on what he was drinking before asking, "What?"

"Where did you get that?" She asked him.

It was clear that she was annoyed, but Connor wasn't entirely certain of why.

"It was in your bag," he told her. "I didn't think you'd care."

Charlie quickly got up and ripped the canteen out of his hands before turning it over. Only a couple of drops fell out. She shouldn't have been surprised, considering how little there had been in there, but she still had to check.

"What are you freaking out about?" Connor asked her.

"Nothing," Charlie told him much more calmly. "It doesn't matter."

This was what she'd wanted wasn't it? It was what she'd traveled back to Wisconsin for. So then why did she feel so much dread over what had just happened?

Rachel, who was just as unsure of what had just happened as everyone other than Charlie, reached into her bag and pulled out her own canteen and held it out to her daughter. "Charlie, here."

Charlie grabbed the water, which she didn't particularly want, and took a long chug.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review!**


	11. Chapter 11

As they stopped the wagon to take a break for a few minutes, Connor took the opportunity to stretch out across the back of the wagon. He hadn't slept much the night before, so he was hoping to get in a quick nap.

Charlie had been stretching her legs, but when she came back, she found Connor asleep, spread across where she had been sitting before. It didn't look overly comfortable as he lay on his back with his head turned so that his neck was at an awkward angle.

She stood there for a second before she moved to sit down next to him, carefully moving his head so that he was using her lap as a pillow. She thought he looked much more comfortable that way.

Bass didn't say anything as he got back onto the wagon and sat across from them, while Rachel and Miles sat up front, but it was quite clear from the look on his face that he had an opinion about what he had found.

Charlie ignored him and chose instead to look out over the side of the wagon as they began to move. She watched the trees go by, each looking just like the last one, for a few minutes before she looked back down at Connor and began to absent-mindedly play with the curls of his hair. As she did so, she looked down at her wrist to check on her marking. It was still there and she didn't think it had started to fade out yet.

Bass let out a scoff at her playing with Connor's hair, so Charlie glared up at him.

"What exactly are you two?" Bass asked in a tone filled with judgement. "Because, from what I've seen, you're the opposite of friends with benefits. He's stuck with all of the crap of dating you, but none of the reward."

She said nothing. She glared at him for a few seconds longer before going back to look out over the edge of the wagon with her jaw clenched as her fingers resumed their movements through Connor's hair.

"You don't have a comeback. Do you?" Bass prodded. "Because you know I'm right. So stop looking like you're mad at me just for pointing out the truth."

Charlie turned back to look over at him as she insisted, "Or maybe I'm mad at you because all of this is your fault."

"All of what is my fault?" Bass asked in a tone of disbelief. "…No, really. Tell me. How is _any_ of this _my_ fault?"

"The whole reason I wanted to get rid of the markings in the first place was because Connor wanted to get the republic back so badly," Charlie told him bitterly. "And I wonder who put that idea in his head."

* * *

Connor woke up to the sound of his father loudly demanding, "You think I want the republic back?"

That instantly peaked his interest, so he decided to leave his eyes shut and pretend to still be asleep so that he could eavesdrop a little more.

Someone's fingers had been playing with his hair, he was guessing they were Charlie's, but the motions came to a complete halt as her voice accused, "Don't even try to pretend that you don't want it back. Everybody here knows it was your idea."

"I wanted the republic back because it was the only way to get him out of Mexico," Bass insisted angrily.

"Right. Because you don't want it back anymore," Charlie agreed sarcastically.

"I _don't_." He argued. "Ask Miles. That's the last thing I want at this point."

"And why would I ever believe that?" She questioned.

"Do you know what my worst fear is, Charlie?" He asked her.

Charlie kept her jaw clenched shut as she stared over at Bass, waiting for him to tell her. She wasn't about to play a guessing game with him.

"Connor's going to get the republic, with or without me. I know that. He doesn't need me for that," Bass told her. "And because he's turning into me and you're turning into Miles, one day you're going to try to stop him. Only, you're going to be able to go through with it. So, no. I don't want the republic back more than I want my son alive. Is that so surprising?"

They both went silent then, but Connor still waited several minutes, as he thought about what he'd overheard, before he pretended to wake up. As he opened his eyes and gave Charlie a sleepy smile, he still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do with the information that he had overheard.

He'd thought that his dad had wanted this, to rebuild the republic. He'd thought that Monroe had seen it as the perfect father-son bonding experience. But now he found himself feeling a little unsure now that he knew Monroe didn't want it. Now Connor knew why his father kept pushing off any attempts at getting the republic back further and further.

* * *

All day, Charlie had been watching her marking. She'd looked at it all too frequently, checking for any signs of change. There still didn't seem to be any, but the twenty-four hours weren't up yet. The cure could still work.

She wasn't even sure what she was hoping for.

She found it a little bit strange that her mark hadn't started to fade yet, but, then again, Connor had said that his had shown up all at once. Maybe that was the way that they'd disappear.

* * *

When they set up camp for the night, Charlie immediately went to lay with Connor. She took one last look at her marking before closing her eyes. If Lucille was right and the markings really would be gone within twenty-four hours of drinking the cure that she'd given them, then that meant that that would probably be the last time that she'd see Connor's name written on her wrist. If all worked as it was supposed to, the markings would be gone by sometime the next morning.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A giant thanks goes out to Sexy Meat Pies and Bubbly Girl13 for reviewing last chapter. :)  
**


	12. Chapter 12

Charlie woke up the next morning. For a second she just laid there, but then she remembered the events of the morning before and quickly moved to check her wrist.

Her marking was still there, but she wasn't sure whether twenty-four hours had for sure passed or not. Besides, she wasn't the one who had drank the cure. Connor had. Maybe only his marking would be gone.

Her heart was pounding heavily in her chest as she grabbed his arm, roughly enough that he stirred, before she shoved his sleeve up enough that she could see where her name was still written across his wrist.

"What the hell are you doing?" Connor asked as he pulled his arm back out of her grip.

"Nothing," she told him as she felt a wave of relief wash over her at the marking still being there.

"Sure," he mumbled out, not sounding entirely convinced.

He didn't push the subject though.

* * *

As they sat in the back of the wagon, Charlie leaned with her back against the front and her knees bent over where Connor was sitting against the side. Every few minutes, she stopped to look down and make sure that her marking was still there. Sometimes, she was convinced that at least ten or twenty minutes must have passed, when really it was only a couple of minutes.

If anyone noticed Charlie's excessive periodic staring at her wrist, they didn't say a word about it. Finally, at noon, she became convinced that it really wasn't disappearing.

She realized then that Lucille probably hadn't even thought that the cure had been real. She hadn't told Charlie to wait because she had wanted her to be sure. She'd been giving her what she'd really been looking for. A choice. Charlie hadn't even realized that she'd made up her mind until she'd thought that the markings were going to be gone.

She shifted her staring from her wrist to Connor as she wondered what she was going to do about him. She didn't want the markings gone. She'd wanted something else all along. She just wasn't sure whether it was something that was just as incurable or not.

After a few minutes, she moved so that she was sitting next to Connor, with her back against the same side of the wagon as his was. He turned to look over at her as she set her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes.

They stayed like that, in silence, for a while before Connor began to speak to her in Spanish.

Charlie let him speak, enjoying listening to it even though she didn't understand a single word of it, until he finished a few minutes later.

She opened her eyes and turned her head up to look up at him as she asked, "What does that mean?" When he didn't answer, she added, "What? Did you tell me to take my shirt off in Spanish or something?"

He just smiled down at her without translating, until Miles spoke up.

"Whatever he said can't be too bad," he commented. "Rachel can speak some Spanish and she doesn't look pissed. She's smiling, so I'd guess he just insulted Bass a lot."

"Hey," Bass complained in an annoyed tone as he glared over at the back of Miles' head.

Charlie found herself only more curious once she knew that her mother wasn't upset about whatever Connor had just said, and was possibly even pleased.

"What did he say?" She asked her mother.

Rachel turned to look back at her daughter and shrugged as she said, "I'm not translating that one. You're just going to have to get him to tell you in English."

As Rachel turned back around in her seat, Charlie turned her attention back to Connor and shot him a questioning look.

He hesitated for a moment before wrapping an arm around her and bringing his lips close to her ear.

"I said that clearly there's something to this soulmate system because you're perfect. You're gorgeous and everything I didn't know I wanted. You're worth much more than a republic," he told her. "And I don't know how I managed to get matched up with you."

Miles looked back over his shoulder at his smiling niece for a second before commenting, "I don't know what he's saying, but whatever it is worked on Rachel and now it's working on Charlie."

"And you should probably take your shirt off," Connor added as a smirk that she couldn't see formed on his lips.

Charlie let out a laugh at that before turning to see the self-satisfied smile on his lips. She grinned back before bringing her lips to his.

What had started off as a sweet moment turned into a well overdue make-out session that the rest of the wagon definitely did not appreciate.

When Charlie finally pulled back from him she bit down on her lower lip as a smile pulled at it. She brought her lips next to his ear to tell him, "Maybe you should take your shirt off instead."

"Don't test me, Charlie," Connor told her as he turned to look over at her. "I'm shameless."

She arched an eyebrow at him. She had her doubts about him actually stripping in front of his father and her mom and uncle.

He took that as a challenge and moved to unbutton his shirt. He got one button open before she reached to stop him.

She moved closer to him as she quietly told him, "Later."

A grin formed at Connor's lips at that as Bass glared over at them from the other side of the wagon. He'd rather them be together than killing each other, but that didn't make it any less disgusting to watch.

Charlie knew that there were still bound to be complications, but she wasn't looking for any more excuses. Instead, she had decided to stop trying to pretend that she didn't feel for Connor just what he did for her.

_The End_

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to Bubbly Girl13 and Sexy Meat Pies for reviewing last chapter! :D  
**


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